THE CAPE OR CLAWLESS OTTER 



fall victims to the otter, particularly wild ducks, 

 which are often seized from beneath by the feet 

 when swimming in the mud-discoloured water. 

 The eggs and young of water birds are also eaten 

 when found amongst the reeds and rushes. 



A satisfactory supply of food in and near the water 

 not being forthcoming, the Cape Otter forages the 

 neighbourhood for considerable distances in search 

 of the eggs and young of ground birds, land tortoises, 

 lizards, and insects. At the Botanical Gardens at 

 Pietermaritzburg, several swans were attacked and 

 killed by otters, which, no doubt, had been driven 

 to desperation by hunger. 



Frogs and fresh-water crabs constitute the main- 

 stay of the diet of the otter. The excreta of the 

 Cape Otter is usually a mass of fragments of the 

 chewed-up armour of fresh-water crabs (Thelphusia 

 per lata) ^ indicating that crabs, shell and all, are eaten. 



Owing to a changed environment, persecution 

 by enemies, or failure of the ordinary food supply, 

 various animals are forced to gradually change 

 their habits, and in consequence, their bodies 

 become modified to suit their new surroundings. 

 How this change is induced we know not. It is 

 certainly quite independent of the intelligence 

 of the animal. When we refer to this controlling, 

 moulding, directing power which permeates every- 

 thing we, for lack of a more convenient term, call 

 it Nature. It is evidently a law of Nature that 

 what is not used must be taken away, modified, or 



137 



